Friday, January 30, 2009

1865] Free at last: Slavery is abolished with the ratification of the 13th amendment (1/31) which will go into effect February 1, 1865...

1913] All aboard: Grand Central Station opens in New York City (2/1). The largest train station in the world is still beautiful...

1933] Debuted on this date: "The Lone Ranger" airs the first of 2,956 episodes, ending in 1955 and beyond that in films and specials (1/30)...1982] David Letterman debuts on NBC-TV with his own show. His first guest is Bill Murray (2/1). Letterman may have made his network debut in 1971 covering the Indy 500...

1948] In Cold Blood: Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi is murdered by a Hindu extremist (1/30)...

1962] High-flying tragedy: Two members of the 'Flying Wallendas' high-wire act are killed when their 7-person pyramid collapses during a performance in Detroit (1/30). In 1978 family patriarch Karl Wallenda falls to his death in Puerto Rico...

1983] Super Bowl Sunday: The Washington Redskins beat the Miami Dolphins 21-17 in SBXVII as RB John Riggins picks up 166 yards on 38 carries (1/30)...1988] Herb Alpert plays our national anthem on trumpet, then the Washington Redskins led by the first black QB in SB history, Doug Williams, rout the Denver Broncos 42-10 in SBXXII (1/31)...1999] Cher sings the national anthem prior to the Denver Broncos second consecutive SB win. John Elway stars in a 34-19 victory over Atlanta in SBXXXIII (1/31)...2000] Kurt Warner hits Isaac Bruce for the winning TD with 2 minutes remaining as the St. Louis Rams pull off a 23-16 victory over Tennessee in SB XXXIV (1/30). Warner will QB the Phoenix Cardinals in Sunday's SB...

1999] Going to Hall: Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor is elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the first ballot (1/30)...

2000] Off his rocker: Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker is suspended by baseball commissioner Bud Selig for his disparaging racial remarks, mostly about the straphangers on the no. 7 to Shea Stadium. His statements appear in Sports Illustrated (1/31). Rocker got into another jam recently...

Thursday, January 29, 2009

1845] 'Quoth the raven, nevermore': Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" is published for the first time in the New York Evening Mirror...

1900] A junior graduates: The American Baseball League is organized in Philadelphia with 7 teams in addition to Philadelphia: Boston, Baltimore (which will move to New York and become the Yankees), Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee and Washington, D.C...

1980] 'Happy Trails': Legendary comedian Jimmy Durante says "Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are" at 86. Durante passes away from pneumonia...2007] Barbaro, winner of the Kentucky Derby who broke down in the Preakness, is euthanized after suffering from his leg injuries for months...

1990] Guilty as charged: Joseph Hazelwood, former Exxon Valdez skipper, goes on trial in Anchorage (AK) for his role in America's worst oil spill. He will be acquitted of all charges except for a misdemeanor...1999] The U.S. Senate delivers subpoenas for Monica Lewinsky and 2 presidential advisers for private videotaped testimony in Bill Clinton's impeachment trial...

1995] A Super Bowl 1st: The San Francisco 49ers become the first team in the NFL to win 5 Super Bowls by beating San Diego 49-26 behind Steve Young's 6 touchdown passes, which breaks Joe Montana's previous record of 5...

2006] Wounded anchor: ABC 'World News Tonight' co-anchor Bob Woodruff and a cameraman are seriously injured in a roadside bombing in Iraq...For more on January 29th: C L I C K:

1958] The end of a Hall of Fame career: Brooklyn Dodger 3-time MVP catcher, Roy Campanella is paralyzed below the waist when his car overturns on an icy road in Glen Cove (LI). Campy will never play again and is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969...

1959] Invinceable: Vince Lombardi is named coach of the Green Bay Packers and a legend is born. Lombardi will win 5 titles in his 9 years in Green Bay...

1973] Premiered on this date: "Barnaby Jones" starring Buddy Ebsen debuts. It will run until the fall of 1980...1978] "Fantasy Island" starring Ricardo Montalban and Herve Villechaize debuts on ABC-TV and goes into syndication in 1984 until life as we know it ends...

1986] Liftoff disaster: Millions of people around the world watch as the Challenger Seven explodes taking the lives of seven astronauts: Smith, Scobee, Resnik, McNair, Onizuka, Jarvis and McAulife...

2001] Super Bowled: Ray Lewis leads the Baltimore Ravens to a 34-7 thrashing of the Giants in SBXXXV...For more on January 28th, CLICK:

1991] A super performance: Whitney Houston sings the definitive version of our national anthem at Super Bowl XXV and Scott "wide right" Norwood becomes famous for missing a field goal that would have won in for Buffalo. Instead, the Giants win 20-19...

Monday, January 26, 2009

1784] Take a letter Maria: Benjamin Franklin sends his daughter a letter expressing his unhappiness over the eagle being selected over the turkey as the symbol of America. But Ben, we can't eat our national symbol every Thanksgiving...

1934] Showtime at the Apollo: The Apollo Theater re-opens in a new location - Harlem on 125th Street and 7th Avenue. It's still there...

1960] The new commish: Pete Rozelle, 33-year old GM of the Los Angeles Rams succeeds Bert Bell as NFL Commissioner...

1979] "Happy Trails": Former Vice President and New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller dies of a heart attack at 70. At first report he was alone in his office but it was later determined that he was at home in the presence of his 25-year old female aide who had a Daily News reporter friend call 911 an hour after he had died leading to speculation about the cause the heart attack (you do the math)...1983] Legendary football coach Bear Bryant dies of a heart attack at 69 just 41 days after his retirement...

1979] Put your dukes up: "The Dukes of Hazzard" premieres and will run until the summer of '85 on CBS-TV...

1997] Not so super for the Patriots: The Green Bay Packers crush the Pats 35-21 in Super Bowl XXXI. There were better days ahead for the Patriots...

1998] Who's that lady?:Bill Clinton makes his famous, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky" speech...

1999] Crash landings: The NTSB concludes that John Denver's 1997 fatal light-plane crash was caused by too little fuel in the tank at takeoff...2003] Billy Joel is hospitalized after crashing his car into a tree in Sag Harbor. The NTSB concludes that a bottle of wine is the cause of the crash...For more on January 26th: C L I C K:

Friday, January 23, 2009

1848] Solid Gold: James W. Marshall discovers a gold nugget at Sutter's Mill in Northern California (1/24). This discovery leads to the gold rush of '49...

1915] Can you hear me now?: In New York, Alexander Graham Bell speaks to an assistant in San Francisco inaugurating the first transcontinental phone service. Long distance is born (1/25)...

1929] Pick a number, any number: Jacob Rupert, co-owner of the Yankees announces that in the upcoming season the team will have uniform numbers to help identify the players (1/23). The team will use numbers corresponding to the batting order. Strangely enough, to this day, the Yankees are the only team that has never put the players' names on their uniforms...

1968] Suffering a seizure: North Korea seizes the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo, holding the crew for 11 months on suspicion of spying (1/23)...

1970] Gunned down: James "Shep" Sheppard (Heartbeats, Shep and the Limelites) is found murdered in his car of the Long Island Expressway (1/24)...

1971] Boogity, boogity: In basketball, UCLA loses to Notre Dame (1/23) and then wins 88 games in a row. The streak ends with a loss to ??? Correct - Notre Dame...

1977] Rootin' tootin': "Roots" debuts as a mini-series and almost half of the country watches the final 2-hour episode when 100 million viewers are on hand. 85% of all TV homes saw all or part of the previous 7-episodes (1/23)...

1989] Electric avenue: Confessed serial killer Ted Bundy is put to death in Florida's electric chair for the 1978 kidnapping and killing of Kimberly Leach (1/24)...

1994] Krafty buy: New England businessman Robert Kraft buys the Patriots for $172 million. During his tenure as owner the Pats have won 3 Super Bowls. When he bought the Patriots they had a losing record (1/24)...For more on January 23 - 25: C L I C K:

Thursday, January 22, 2009

1957] Guilty as charged: George Metesky a.k.a. 'The Mad Bomber' is arrested in Waterbury (CT) and accused of planting more than 30 explosive devices over a 15-year period in the New York Metropolitan area. Deemed insane, Metesky will be assigned to a state institution until being released in 1973 when he returns home to Waterbury and lives until the age of 90...1998] Theodore Kaczynski a.k.a. 'The Unabomber' pleads guilty in return for a life sentence without parole. His specialty was mail bombs. This was not a good day for bombers or NFL murderers...2001] Former NFL player Rae Carruth is sentenced to a minimum of 18 years and 11 months in prison for his role in the 1999 murder of his pregnant girlfriend who was carrying his baby. The baby survives and is being raised by the victim's mother. Carruth makes license plates in prison...

1968] Sock it to me: "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" debuts on NBC-TV...

1973] King George: George Foreman wins the heavyweight title with a second round TKO of Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica mahn...

1973] Supes Rule: Roe v. Wade is born, legalizing abortion after the Supreme Court strikes down state laws prohibiting abortion. You can be sure this will be an issue that won't ever be put to rest...

1973] 'Happy Trails': Former President Lyndon B. Johnson dies from a heart attack at 64...1995] Kennedy matriarch Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy who suffered a paralyzing stroke 20 years earlier, passes away at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port at 104...2008] Australian actor Heath Ledger dies of an accidental medication overdose at 28...

1984] The Big Apple: Apple introduces the Macintosh in a Super Bowl ad...

1984] Superbowl Sunday: Barry Manilow sings the national anthem and then the Los Angeles Raiduhs rip the Washington Redskins 38-9 in Super Bowl XVIII...1989] Joe Montana leads the 49ers on an 11-play, 92-yard touchdown drive with 43 seconds remaining to lift San Francisco to a 20-16 win over Cincinnati in Super Bowl XXIII. It's the third title for SF...

1997] Madam Secretary: The Senate confirms Madeleine Albright as the nation's first female Secretary of State...

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

1946] Debuted on this date: "The Fat Man" debuts on ABC Radio and will run for 4 years. Although it will be made into a film, the detective series never makes it on TV...1957] Patsy Cline appears on 'Arthur Godfrey's' nighttime TV show singing "Walking After Midnight"...

1954] The Cooz: Celtic's great Bob Cousy steals the show in one of the most exciting NBA All-Star games in history, scoring 10 of the East team's 14 points in OT and then icing the game with his signature dribbling in a 98-93 win...

1959] Gunned down: Carl Switzer a.k.a. Alfalfa from 'Our Gang' is fatally shot in Northern California over a $50 debt he was owed. The murder is ruled 'justifiable homicide'. Alfalfa was just 31...

1966] Wedding Bells: George Harrison and Patty Boyd a.k.a. 'Layla' rock down the aisle. The couple will divorce in 1977 when Patty takes Eric Clapton as her next husband...

1984] 'Happy Trails': Jackie Wilson dies at 49 after being in a coma for 8 years, suffering a heart attack on stage, September 25, 1975 while singing "Lonely Teardrops"...1998] Jack Lord of "Hawaii Five-O" dies from congestive heart failure in Honolulu at 77...

1991] Captured in the desert: CBS correspondent Bob Simon is captured by Iraqis in the Persian Gulf. He's imprisoned for 40 days before being released...

1993] Observed: The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is observed in all 50 states for the first time...

1994] First cut is the deepest: A jury in Manassas (VA) acquits Lorena Bobbitt by reason of insanity for her 'slice and dice' of husband John's private parts...For more on January 21st: C L I C K:

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

1892] Jump it up: The first official basketball game is played at a YMCA court in Springfield (MA). The game is played using peach baskets with 9 players on each side. The game is invented by Dr. James Naismith, a phys-ed teacher at Springfield College...1968] In one of college basketball's classic match-ups, Elvin Hayes and Lew Alcindor face off as #2 ranked Houston beats #1 UCLA 71-69. Hayes scores 39 for the winning Cougars...

1961] "D-I-V-O-R-C-E": Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller. They were married in June, 1956...

1965] "Happy Trails": Fans mourn the death of Alan Freed who passes away from uremic poisoning at 43...1993] Audrey Hepburn dies from abdominal cancer at 63...2003] Caricaturist Al Hirschfeld dies in his sleep at 99...

1981] Free at last: Iran releases 52 American hostages held for 444 days. This happens minutes after Ronald Reagan is sworn in...

1985] Soopuh: The 49ers beat Miami 38-16 in Super Bowl XIX. For the first time TV commercials sell for a million a minute. The 2009 price is $3 million per 30 seconds and they're 90% sold out with two weeks to go...

1986] Observed: The U.S. observes the first federal holiday in honor of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr...

1987] Kidnapped: Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite disappears in Beirut while attempting to negotiate the release of western hostages. He will be released in 1991...

2008] We are the champions: The New York Giants and New England Patriots win their conference championships setting up a Patriots-Giants Super Bowl...For more on January 20th: C L I C K:

Monday, January 19, 2009

1949] A raise to six figures: The president's salary is increased from $75,000 to $100,000 with an additional $50,000 expense allowance for each year...

1952] Signed, sealed and delivered: The NFL buys the New York Yanks, then awards the franchise to a group in Dallas. The Dallas Texans will then be awarded to Baltimore in 1953 to form the Colts. Are you following all this? There will be a test...

1953] Splain it to me Lucy: A whopping 68% of all TV sets are tuned to "I Love Lucy" as Lucy Ricardo gives birth to a baby boy...

1957] Who hit the mute button?: Ernie Kovacs does a half-hour TV show without saying one word...

1972] Going to Hall: Sandy Koufax, Yogi Berra and Early Wynn are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame...

1974] Irish wake: Notre Dame stops UCLA's remarkable 88-game winning streak 71-70. The Irish move up in the polls from 2 to 1, replacing the Bruins. It marks the first time UCLA is not #1 since the 1968 NCAA Championship Tournament...

2000] Guilty as charged: Robert F. Kennedy nephew, Michael Skakel surrenders to Greenwich (CT) police to face charges in the 1975 death of neighbor Martha Moxley. He will be convicted and is serving time in prison...

2002] Last call for alcohol: Schaefer Stadium hosts its final Patriots game. New England beats Oakland 16-13 in overtime in an AFC Divisional Playoff game, played in a snowstorm. The game features the infamous "tuck" rule used to protect QB Tom Brady. An Adam Vinatieri field goal wins it...

2004] Wacked out: John Kerry wins Iowa's Democratic presidential caucus and Howard Dean who finishes third, delivers his famous, fist-pumping, over-the-top speech that will bury him as a serious candidate...For more on January 19th: C L I C K:

Friday, January 16, 2009

1916] No joke Johnny: The Professional Golfers Association (PGA) is formed in New York City and an endless amount of un-funny golf jokes follow (1/17)...

1929] Debuted on this date: Popeye makes his first appearance in the comic strip "Thimble Theater" (1/17)...

1948] Round & round she goes: The precursor of "American Idol", "The Original Amateur Hour", hosted by Ted Mack moves from radio to television where it runs until 1960 (1/18)...

1950] On the brink: A million and a quarter in cash and over $1.5 million in checks, money orders and securities is stolen in the Great Brink's Bank Robbery from the Brinks Building in Boston (1/17)...

1964] Premiered on this date: "Hello Dolly" starring Carol Channing opens at the St. James Theatre on Broadway (1/16)...1974] "Jaws" by Peter Benchley is published and quickly becomes a best seller with plans in the works for a movie (1/16)...1976] "The Donny & Marie Show" starts a 3-year run with "A little bit Country, A little bit Rock & Roll" (1/16)...

1970] "Happy Trails": Singer Billy Stewart and 3 band members are killed when their car goes out of control and off a bridge in North Carolina. Stewart was just 32 (1/17)...2007] Humorist and author Art Buchwald is a victim of kidney failure at 81 (1/17)...2008] Controversial and eccentric chess icon Bobby Fischer is dead at 64 from degenerative renal failure (1/17)...

1971] Super Sunday: The Colts' Jim O'Brien boots a 32-yard field goal with 5 seconds remaining to give Baltimore a 16-13 win over Dallas in Super Bowl V, considered the sloppiest of all SB games with a record 11 turnovers (1/17)...1976] The Pittsburgh Steelers win their second consecutive Super Bowl on the last play in an exciting 21-17 win over Dallas (1/18)...

1973] Curtains: "Bonanza" airs its last episode (1/16). It debuted on September 12, 1959...

1988] Jimmy the Geek: CBS-TV fires Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder one day after his racial comment that during slavery, "blacks had been bred to produce stronger offspring" (1/16)...

1994] Quake, quake: The Northridge (CA) earthquake rocks Los Angeles, registering a 6.7 on the Richter Scale. At least 61 are killed with damage estimated at $20 billion (1/17)...1995] A magnitude 7.2 earthquake devastates the city of Kobe, Japan (1/17). More than 6,000 are killed...For more on January 16 -18: C L I C K:

Thursday, January 15, 2009

1777] Better late than: The people of New Connecticut declare their independence from Great Britain. The tiny republic will become known as the state of Vermont...

1844] Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame: The University of Notre Dame receives its charter from the state of Indiana...

1870] Donkey serenade: The Democratic Party is represented as a donkey for the first time in a cartoon by Thomas Nast in "Harper's Weekly"...

1892] Basketball rules: The official rules of basketball are published for the first time in Springfield (MA) where the game is invented...

1947] The death of a dahlia: The mutilated remains of 22-year old aspiring actress, Elizabeth Short a.k.a. The 'Black Dahlia' for her dark outfits, are found in a vacant lot in Los Angeles. The case is never solved...

1967] Super Sunday: The Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 in what will eventually be called Super Bowl I. Back then it was called the NFL Championship Game...

1973] Debuted on this date: Gene Shalit brings his bushy mustache and doctor's bag to "The Today Show" as movie reviewer...1974] "Happy Days" on ABC-TV. The highly rated show will run until July of 1984 and spawn the spin off, 'Laverne and Shirley' in January, 1976...

1976] Guilty as charged: Sara Jane Moore is sentenced to life in prison for her attempt on the life of President Gerald Ford in San Francisco...

1987] "Happy Trails": Ray Bolger dies from cancer at 83...

2001] Wiki sighting: Wikipedia goes online...For more on January 15th:

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

1882] Doctor my eyes: The Myopia Hunt Club in Winchester (MA) becomes the first country club. The founders were actually near-sighted or myopic. The club eventually moves to Hamilton (MA)...

1952] Debuted on this date: "The Today Show" on NBC-TV with Dave Garroway and Jack Lescoulie...1972] "Sanford and Son" starring Redd Foxx on NBC-TV. The show runs until September 2, 1977 before going into syndication...

1954] Wedding Bells: Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe marry at San Francisco City Hall. Marilyn will charge 'mental cruelty' in October and the couple will divorce...2004] J.P. Morgan Chase strikes a deal to buy Bank One for $58 billion...

1998] Band Aid money: NBC agrees to pay Warner Brothers a record $13 million per episode to retain the top-rated TV show, "ER", now in its final season....

2001] Super Sunday here we come: The Giants gain their third trip to a Super Bowl by beating Minnesota for the NFC crown but they lose the SB to Baltimore...

2004] And Teddy too: George W. Bush unveils a plan to send astronauts and Ted Kennedy to the moon, Mars and beyond to a galaxy billions and billions of light years away...For more on January 14th : CLICK:

1979] Mysterious Death: Singer Donny Hathaway dies after either jumping or falling from the 15th floor of a Manhattan hotel. Hathaway was just 34...

1982] This is a joke?: An Air Florida 737 crashes into Washington, D.C.'s 14th Street Bridge in a blinding snowstorm. The plane goes down in the Potomac River killing 78. Howard Stern gets fired when asking, on the air, when the next flight was scheduled to arrive at the 14th Street Bridge...

1982] Going to Hall: Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson are elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Congratulations to Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice, elected yesterday...

1989] Guilty as charged: Subway vigilante Bernhard H. Goetz is sentenced to one year in prison for gun possession but is freed the following September...

1990] This I swear: L. Douglas Wilder takes office as the nation's first elected black governor (Virgina)...

2003] Busted: Pete Townshend of The Who is arrested on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children, which he denies. He will later be cleared of those charges...For more on January 13th: C L I C K:

Monday, January 12, 2009

1949] Debuted on this date: "Arthur Godfrey and His Friends" on CBS-TV. It will run 10 seasons on the network...1965] "Hullabaloo" on NBC-TV...1966] "Batman" on ABC-TV. The original series runs 2 seasons...1971] The Archie Bunker era begins as "All in the Family" debuts on CBS-TV. The show morphs into 'Archie's Place' in 1979 and spawns "The Jeffersons"...1981] "Dynasty", inspired by "Dallas" starts an 8-year run on ABC-TV...

1958] Deuces are wild: The NCAA adopts the two-point conversion option after touchdowns. The AFL started using this when it began in 1960, the NFL followed in 1994...

1967] Frozen stiff: Dr. James Bedford becomes the first person to be cryonically preserved with intent of future resuscitation...

1969] Guaranteed: Joe Namath's guarantee holds up when the Jets shock the NFL with their upset win over the Baltimore Colts to win Super Bowl III in the Orange Bowl...

1971] Harrisburg Six: The Reverend Philip Berrigan and five others are indicted on charges of conspiring to kidnap Henry Kissinger and of plotting to blow up the heating tunnels of federal buildings in Washington, D.C...

2005] Guilty as charged: Britain's Prince Harry apologizes after a newspaper publishes a photo of the young royal wearing a Nazi uniform to a costume party. Video released over the weekend shows that Harry did it again with his "Paki" and "Raghead" comments. Somewhere a beautiful princess is spinning...For more, including the Prince Harry video, on January 12th: C L I C K:

Friday, January 9, 2009

1863] Down the Tube: Britain's Prime Minister Gladstone opens the first section of the London Underground Railway (1/10)...

1903] SOLD to the highest bidder: New York businessman Frank Farrell and Bill Devery buy the Baltimore Orioles franchise of the American League for $18,000 and move the team to upper Manhattan where the team finishes 4th as the Highlanders. In 1913 the team is renamed the Yankees (1/9)...

1922] Birth of a station: KQV Pittsburgh is licensed and launched and I am proud to be one of the former program directors of the legendary station 51 years later (1/9)...

1937] Premiered on this date: LOOK Magazine. Within a month, LOOK becomes a bi-weekly until 1971. There have been attempts to resurrect the famous magazine but to no avail (1/9)...1956] Abigail Van Buren's 'Dear Abby' first appears in newspapers (1/9)...1959] "Rawhide" starring Clint Eastwood joins about 30 westerns during the '59-'60 TV season (1/9)...

1970] Super Sunday: Hank Stram's Kansas City Chiefs win Super Bowl IV with a 23-7 victory over Minnesota (1/11)...1981] The Oakland Raiduhs become the first Wild Card team to win the Super Bowl with a win over Philadelphia (1/11)...

1982] The Catch: Joe Montana hits Dwight Clark in the end zone for "The Catch" that gives the San Francisco 49ers a 28-27 comeback win over Dallas and puts them in the Super Bowl against Cincinnati the following week (1/10)...

1989] Going to Hall: Carl Yastrzemski and Johnny Bench are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame (1/9)...2000] Carlton Fisk who caught for the Red Sox for 11 seasons and the White Sox for 13, is elected to the Hall of Fame with Tony Perez of the Reds (1/11)...

2003] 'Happy Trails': Boston Globe sportswriter Will McDonough dies of a heart attack at 67 (1/9)...2004] Actor-writer Spalding Gray, 62, vanishes from his Manhattan apartment (1/10). Two months later his body is found floating in the East River, an apparent suicide...2007] Italian producer Carlo Ponti dies from natural causes at 94 (1/10)...

2003] Curtains: Thomas D. Mottola is out at SONY Records after 14 years at the helm (1/10). One voluptuous singer with a five-octave range throws a party...2005] CBS issues a damning independent review of mistakes relating to a "60 Minutes Wednesday" report of President Bush's National Guard service. Three news executives and a producer are fired for their "myopic zeal" in rushing it to air. One myopic network news anchor starts backing up the truck to his office (1/10)...For more on January 9 -11: CLICK:

1964] War is declared: President Lyndon Baines Johnson declares a 'War on poverty'...

1976] 'Happy Trails': Chinese premier Chou En-Lai dies of bladder cancer at 77...1996] Former French president Francois Mitterand is a victim of prostate cancer at 79...

1982] Ring my bell: American Telephone & Telegraph settles the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit against it by agreeing to divest itself of the 22 Bell System companies. They were broken into 'baby' Bell's..

1994] Guilty as charged: Tonya Harding wins the U.S. Lady's Figure Skating Championship in Detroit but is stripped of the title for involvement in the Nancy Kerrigan knee bashing...1998] Ramzi Yousef is sentenced to life without parole for his role in masterminding the first WTC bombing in New York. Yousef is now making license plates in a Colorado maximum security prison...

2002] No Child Left Behind: George W. Bush signs into law the controversial NCLB Act...

2007] It's just New Jersey I: An unknown stench covers Manhattan and Jersey City (NJ) resulting in the evacuation of several high-rise buildings and the temporary shutdown of PATH train service through the Hudson River...

2008] It's just New Jersey II: The Garden State officially apologizes for slavery, becoming the first Northern state to do so. New Jersey fails to apologize for the 2007 stench however...For more on January 8th:

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

1896] Debuted on this date: The first "Fannie Farmer Cookbook" is published...1927] The first transatlantic phone service begins between London ("London Calling") and New York. 31 calls are made on the first day...1927] The Harlem Globetrotters play their first game in Hinckley (IL). Gee, I wonder who won??? 1929] The "Buck Rogers" comic strip runs in newspapers starting out as "Buck Rogers 2429 AD" but will change to "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century." ...1941] The NBC Blue Radio Network presents "The Squeaky Door" which will later be known as "Inner Sanctum"...1967] "The Newlywed Game" debuts with host Bob Eubanks on ABC-TV...

1926] Wedding Bells: George Burns and Gracie Allen say "I Do." George starts singing songs no one has ever heard and closes the ceremony by saying "Good Night Gracie." ...

1953] Dropping a bomb: President Harry S. Truman announces the development of the H-bomb...

1959] Recognizing the bearded one: The U.S. recognizes the new Fidel Castro government in Cuba...

1992] A landslide election: Tom Seaver of the Mets is elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame with the highest (98.8%) percentage of votes in history. Seaver won 311 games. Rob and I were at his 300th win at Yankee Stadium in 1985 against the Yankees (Seaver was a member of the White Sox then)...

1996] Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow: One of the biggest blizzards in U.S. history blankets the east with more than 100 deaths reported...

1998] Impeachy: Monica Lewinsky signs an affidavit denying a sexual affair with Bill Clinton. On the same date in 1999 Clinton goes on trial before the Senate facing impeachment...

2005] "D-I-V-O-R-C-E": Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston separate after 4 years of marriage. 'Bradgelina' becomes part of the Hollywood vocabulary...

2006] DeLay of game: Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) steps down as House majority leader as he faces corruption charges. He resigns from Congress in June, 2006...For more on January 7th: C L I C K:

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

1759] Wedding Bells: George Washington marries Martha Dandridge Custis and instead of cutting into a wedding cake, it's a cherry pie baked by the new bride...1945] Future President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Pierce tie the knot in Rye (NY)...

1936] Debuted on this date: Porky Pig debuts in the WB cartoon "Gold Diggers of '49". One year later Mel Blanc starts voicing Porky, Bugs, Daffy, Sylvester and Tweety...1975] "Wheel of Fortune" debuts on NBC-TV...

1942] Clipper landing: The Pan American Airways Pacific Clipper arrives in New York after making the first round-the-world trip by a commercial airliner...

1982] Freeway of death: Truck driver William G. Bonin is convicted in Los Angeles of being the "freeway killer" who had murdered 14 young men and boys...

1987] What's the word? Thunderbird!: After a 29-year lapse, the Ford Thunderbird is presented with the Motor Trend Car of the Year Award. It's the first repeat winner of the award...

1994] "Why? Why?":Jeff Gillooly goon Shane Stant makes a pinata out of glamour skater Nancy Kerrigan's leg. Olympic skating rival Tonya Harding sets the whole thing up and is banned from competition. Gillooly and the late Stant do time for the crime...

1999] Impeachment set: The 106th U.S. Congress opens with impeachment proceedings of President Bill Clinton as the first item on its agenda. The trial is set for January 7th...

2005] KKK leader turns in his white hood: Former Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen is arrested 41 years after three civil rights workers were slain in Mississippi. Killen is later convicted of manslaughter...For more on January 6th: C L I C K:

1993] Well hung: The state of Washington executes Westley Allan Dodd, an admitted child sex killer in America's first legal hanging since 1965...

1994] 'Happy Trails': Former House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill dies from colon cancer at 81...1998] Sonny Bono, pop-star turned politician is killed when he crashes into a tree while skiing in South Lake Tahoe (CA) at 62...

2000] Ellll-e-uhnnnn: INS Commissioner Doris Meissner rules that 6-year old Elian Gonzalez "belongs with his father" and must be returned to Cuba. Any day now Elian will be elected president of Cuba...

2004] I'm Confessin': After 14 years of denials, Pete Rose publicly admits that he bet on baseball while manager of the Cincinnati Reds. The world is not shocked by this admission...For more on January 5th: C L I C K:

1872] Busted: Brigham Young, 71-year old leader of the Mormon Church is arrested on a charge of bigamy for having 25 wives (1/2). Your commish had the over on 24…1968] Newark (NJ) police confiscate an entire shipment of John Lennon & Yoko Ono’s “Two Virgins” LP which showed full frontal nudity of the couple on the album. The albums are wrapped in plain brown paper and placed at retail (1/2). Anyone have the original album???

1885] Scalpel!:Dr. William Grant performs the first successful appendectomy on Mary Gartside (1/4), only to discover that her gall bladder was supposed to be removed…

1929] Inherit the network: 27-year old William S. Paley becomes CBS President, inheriting the Tiffany network from his father (1/3)…

1935] Guilty as charged: Bruno Hauptmann goes on trial on charges of kidnapping and murdering the Lindbergh baby (1/2). Hauptmann is found guilty and executed in New Jersey…1979] The trial of ex-Sex Pistol Sid Vicious for the October, 1978 murder of girlfriend Nancy Spungen opens in Manhattan (1/2). Vicious will die from a heroin overdose and not live to hear the verdict…

1965] Broadway bound: Alabama QB Joe Namath signs a 3-year contract worth $427,000 with the New York Jets while standing under the goalpost of the Orange Bowl where his team lost to Texas one day earlier (1/2)…

1967] “Happy Trails“: Jack Ruby, 55, the man that shot JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, dies in a Dallas hospital of a pulmonary embolism (1/3). His secrets about the assassination died with him. This clip is titled “The Men Who Killed Kennedy”..1980] Larry Williams of “Short Fat Fannie” and “Bony Maronie” fame is found dead in his Los Angeles home (1/2). A gunshot wound to the head is never confirmed as a suicide…

1973] The worst sale of a sports franchise: This award goes to CBS which sells the Yankees to a Cleveland group headed by George Steinbrenner for $10 million (1/3). CBS bought the team for $13.2 million…

1993] The comeback kid: Backup Buffalo Bills QB Frank Reich overcomes a 32-point deficit to beat Houston 41-38 in OT in a Wild Card playoff game (1/3). It’s the biggest comeback in NFL history. Reich did the same thing in college at Maryland as a backup to Boomer Esiason…

2007] I am woman hear me roar: Nancy Pelosi is the first female elected to the post of Speaker of the House (1/4). Somewhere, Tip O’Neill gets stinking rotten drunk…For more on January 2 - 4: C L I C K:

About Me

Mel Phillips Now & Then is more Now. The Then always follows the Now. Prior to starting 'Remembers' in 2005 and 'Now & Then' on April 7, 2008 I enjoyed a multi-media career which included being one of the Bill Drake program directors. I was involved in the programming of such legendary stations as WOR-FM, WXLO-FM, WNBC, WRKO AM & FM and KQV. I was also General Manager of Hooper Radio, played disc jockey in markets such as Tampa, Nashville, Norfolk and Atlantic City and enjoyed marketing success in syndicated radio for several companies including ABC, MJI and United Stations. My background also includes the music business where I promoted such diverse CBS acts as The Clash, Gloria Estefan, Loverboy, Judas Priest, George Michael & Julio Iglesias. In Special Programming at WCBS-FM I wrote and produced numerous specials and interviewed some of the biggest recording stars. In addition to this post I'm a regular contributor to Radio Daily News. My wife Diane and I reside on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and I'm very proud of my children, Robert Phillips, Lynn Phillips Brough and granddaughters Allyson and Amy...